Life-preserver.



No. 685,6". j l Patented Oct; 29, |901.

G. |.4 DE IBSA. yLIFE' PBEsEnvE. (Application led June 2O, 1900.)

(No Model.)-

IN VEN TOR 5to letters Vofreference marked thereo UNITED STATES PATENTlOFFICE.

GEORG IESAY DE IESA, on VIENNA, AUSTRIA-HUNGARY.`

LIFEAPRESERVER.

. l VSEEC!!ll'IGl-LEIIZOIV forming part of- Letters Patent N o.685,611',dated ctober4 29, 1901.

l Application iiled .Tune 20, 190C.

To4 a/Z whom t may concern.- f

' Be it known that l, GEORG IRSAY DE IESA,

rst lieutenant in the Seventh Hussars, a subject of the Emperor ofAustria-Hungary, and a resident of J osefstdterstrasse 23, Vienna,`VIII,Austaria-Hungary, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements inAutomatic Life-Saving Apparat-us; and I-do herebydeclarethe following to be a full, clear, ,and exact description of theinvention, such-as. will enable others skilled in the art to which itappertainsl to make and use thesame, reference being had to theaccompany-ing drawings, and n,-W hich form' a` part o f thisspecification. f My invention relates to a device for,useautomaticallyto -preserve lfrom the danger'of drowning. The device iscarried by the persen to be preserved :and becomes operative i vice isbrought fto thesurface. z5 i onlyon being brought into Yater and insuoli' A manner that Within an extr lmely short period of a few secondsat the utmost its action be-I gins-fzl.v e., the person provided with'the (le- In theaccolnpanying drawings, Figure lis 'a verticallongitudinal section. 1 Fig. '2 is a plan, and Fig. 3 is an'endelevation.

Vlhedevice consists of a case a,'with which is connected a foldedbladder c by means of clamps b.- This bladder communicates with theAcase through a branch d. A partition,4

consisting of a sieve f and of cotton-wool disk g, divides vthe case ainto. two chambers.. In

yas

-one chamber is placed a substance which on being brought in contactwith water generates gas-such, for instance, as calcium carbid-#and theother chamber contains a valve, hereinafter more fully described, .The-di'skjv g, consisting of loose cotton-wool, is lpreferably-covered withsalt for the purpose of preventing access of moist air to the calciumcarbid. The secondchamber has an opening c',

closed by avalve h. This'valve is generally open and is arranged so asto closeautomatically when a predetermined quantity of Water haspenetrated into the receiver. -The valve h iscontrolled bya spring k andis heldv open by means of apiece m, Thisflatter piece m iis chieiiyVprepared of -a substance? soluble in water, and to prevent accessof'atmospheric moisture it is coated with collo'A dion. As a suitablesubstance frornvwhich to rior of the apparatus. e

ser'mnazomo. (rammel.)

construct this piece'm may be mentioned a mixture of soda, tartari'cacid, and potassium l chlorid. The piece m is inserted with one 55 endinto pincers n, its other end-restingagainst the valve h. The access ofair to the interior of the lwhole apparatus is further prevented, as faras possible, by arranging a bell p over the opening t'. The valve h ism'ov-A 6p, ably suppgrted on a lever q and provided with pack1ng-wings rin orderfto'render 'the closing .of the opening i as airtight as possi?ble.v Inorder to reduce thevolume'oi, 'the' whole apparatus to aminimum, the bladder65f c is held folded by means of strings of easily'-'.f breakable material. Finally hooksgwyare pro,-

' vided-on one of the outer walls of the device, whereby itgmaybesecured to' any piece'ef,l Clothing. V' .V j'. ".'fjA x v "Instead'othegenerallyropen valve ayalv may be usedwhich instantly opens under. theziniiuence of the -outer waterfpressureand -mits water, but then closesagain-I' un'de1'- the pressurefof "gasj-vinftheinte'- 175' ir'iiluenceofthej f The working of the apparatusis as follows l l-As soon as-theapparatusff is ',brougli'tfu'nderj.

water, water enters the first 'chamber through th 6pm-ing.dissolvngthefhygrosbpicoai ing outhe piecegm,i.mdefof collodion or'fthlike. substancej. luiken-passes throughfth'e layer of cotton-wool and'-enters 'the secndg chamber, "-wherje it v'prod uces' an "energetic'des-fi: l velopment cffgas.' :Tlicj'water'causes fals'o'thejSg!fdisselutin'jofj. the piec film, so'that the valves lh graduallyclosnsfl "Th'is jean 4be vso prpor tioncd that completeclosingcf theopening takes place 'when a'v quantity' of .water suii'. Jy cientto'gen7erate thegas ivfeqllvled'has entered'fgo the apparatus;lWhentllolning" cisclosed, the gas produced passes," through the' branchdintofthe bladder,4 whichisblown out, the 1 strings '-s being broken.Thisbn'lloonjilled r withgas insu-res suiiicient bouyancy tobring 95'a'human bodyte the surface and' to hold it ICO chemical, generating gasupon contact with Water, a water-inlet chamber separated from y thereceiving-chamber by a porous partitiorn' au inietvalve for thewat-erchamber, an

infiatable gas-receiver communicating with the Water-chamber, and meansfor attaching the device .to the person, substantially as set l forth.

' waterfa Water-inlet chamber provided with an inlet-valve, a porouspartition separating said chambers, asoiubie piece of suitable materialadapted to retain the inlet-valve normally open, an in fatablegas-receiver com- 5 "my invention I have signed my name in preszo enceof two subscribing Witnesses.

GEORG IRSVAY DE- IRSA. 'Witnessem ALVEsTo S. HOGUE, AUGUST FUGGER.'

